Trade Union for Merchant Navy Officers In deciding to recommend
a trade union . policy the council of the Officers' (Merchant Navy) Federation have taken a course which may prove to be in the best interests of the service as well as of the officers. It is not in the interests of the service that the men who are responsible for navigating ships at sea and maintaining discipline among crews should themselves be suffering from a sense of serious grievance. The position is not Merely that the slump in the shippinlusinesasinhnansg nifirs produced a heavy percentage of unemployment of the mercantile marine. Even under the best companies officers are badly paid, often receiving salaries little if at all superior to the wages of cooks and carpenters. Their position is insecure ; they are ineligible for insurance benefits ; they are often stinted in respect of leave ; and there are grounds for the complaint that in some cases they are treated with disrespect in the presence of tr will a secure anyone who knows the the men they command. No one can reasonably com- plain if they decide to combine e to y o e v of employment. n spirit that is predominant among them fear that Combination will affect their loyalty or discipline. The War Against Noise
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